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Defaulting to PowerShell instead of CMD

Published18 November, 2016

Beginning in Windows 8.1, you could set the Windows PowerUser menu (right-click on the Start button, or Win-X key) to show Windows PowerShell and Windows PowerShell (Admin) on the menu instead of Command Prompt and Command Prompt (Admin). But every single new machine you log on to, you had to change that. A nuisance, at least. So, I created a Group Policy Preference to set the registry key for this, and linked this to the Default Domain Policy.

Apparently, Microsoft is finally catching up, and this is going to be the default on Windows 10 beginning with the build that's coming down today. About time!

For those of you who are not on the Fast Ring of Windows Insider builds, the registry key you need to set is:

You can also use Group Policy Preferences to set that as part of a Group Policy Object (GPO).

Open the Group Policy Management Console (gpmc.msc)

Right-click the GPO you want to modify (I chose the Default Domain Policy for my domain)

Select Edit from the right-click menu to open the Group Policy Editor

Expand the User Configuration container, then Preferences and select Registry in the left pane.

Right-click in the Registry details pane and select Registry Item from the New menu:

Add a new registry item to Group Policy Preferences

6. In the New Registry Properties dialog, select Update for the Action, HKEY_CURRENT_USER for the Hive, and a Key Path of \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.

Set PowerShell as the WinX default

7. The Value Name is DontUsePowerShellOnWinX, with a Value Type of REG_DWORD and a Value Data of 0, as shown below.

8. Click OK, and then close GPEdit. The Group Policy will be applied to following the next reboot and logon of each user to whom the GPO applies.

For those of you who insist that they really want CMD instead of PowerShell, you can simply set the value of that registry item to one (1) instead of zero (0). Or let users manually control it. But as I've been saying for years: "Death to CMD". :)